The details of our vacation are unplanned — open to discovery and serendipity.

Usually, that serendipity felt like the nicest thing the universe had ever done for her.

Rainbow Rowell -- Eleanor & Park

He should at last appreciate the serendipity and circumstance and ironical mien of events, and their often necessary befalling.

Chang-rae Lee -- A Gesture Life

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It was serendipitous when writer Thomas Keneally walked into the luggage store that the Pages owned in Beverly Hills and became fascinated by the story Mr. Page told him.

Leon Leyson -- The Boy on the Wooden Box

"Let’s walk over to Serendipity and get a hamburger," he said.

Donna Tartt -- The Goldfinch

Many Americans understand that being born in the United States, with all the opportunities that entails, is a matter of sheer serendipity.

Sonia Nazario -- Enrique’s Journey

Both bands, in a sudden and serendipitous coalition of rock and brass, swung into the school song.

Stephen King -- Carrie

The piece of driftwood raises issues of luck and coincidence, serendipity rather than planning.

Thomas C. Foster -- How to Read Literature Like a Professor

It felt like serendipity—she and several other women had recently founded the Turner Station Heritage Committee, and they were organizing events to bring attention to black people from Turner Station who’d contributed good things to the world: a former congressman who became president of the NAACP, an astronaut, and the man who’d won several Emmy awards as the voice of Sesame Street’s Elmo.

Rebecca Skloot -- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

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And with the sort of serendipity that so often rewards impetuousness, the entire family fell fiercely in love with the country that would be renamed Tanzania after independence in 1961.

Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin -- Three Cups of Tea

It’s as simple as that, with one wrinkle My serendipitous meeting with Nathaniel is seen as his second chance.

Steve Lopez -- The Soloist

That’s a little too serendipitous for me.

J.D. Robb -- Immortal in Death

This was serendipity itself; with the fall of the Nationalists, other Chinese students had become as illegitimate as he.

Gish Jen -- Typical American

But the most serendipitous aspect of the CPS program—for the sake of a study, at least—is how the school-choice game was played.

Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner -- Freakonomics

From that serendipitous discovery, the coffee habit and trade spread to Yemen, Amsterdam, the Caribbean, South America, and the world, but it had all begun in Ethiopia, in a field like this.

Abraham Verghese -- Cutting for Stone

Eventually I’d hear Lelia’s voice, calling to both of us, calling the only English to be heard that day in the store, and we would meet again at the register with what we wanted, the three of us, looking like a family accident, gathering on the counter the most serendipitous pile.